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Topic: AR17 Flight Information (Read 18579 times)

I decided to do a comprehensive overview of the AR17. Thanks I believe to Mrs. Shrek and others, we already know a lot about the actual flights that AR17 teams took on the dates we think were correct. I have gone to a favorite airline database that shall not be named for actual flight information, but that now only gives single point-to-point flights, so any multiple flights have to be assembled correctly. The dates of flight will obviously affect actual departure and arrival times (as opposed to schedules which may stay about the same) as well as indicating which dates cannot be used due to flights not valid for those days of the week.

A key unknown is where World Race Productions placed the one or two extended pit stops for AR17. I have assumed one will be in Sweden because teams need time to recover from the long flights from Accra to Frankfurt to Stockholm to Kiruna which total 4700 miles. If there is a second one, I have no idea where it will be.

Thanks apskip! Thanks to spoiler friends we doknow some of the actual flights used, be sure to refer to the post 1 Timeline summary.

We have no actual evidence for a leg in the Stockholm area, (just transits). We do believe there is at least one leg in Kiruna Sweden (Artic Circle).

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

The flight from Accra to Frankfurt was indeed LH567 2203 0603+1The flights 6/1 from Frankfurt are not direct to Kiruna. A change in Stockholm's Arlanda Airport is mandatory. Times for the two flights mentioned in the telecast are reasonable:

LH3000 FRA ARN 0747 0945 orLH3002 FRA ARN 0955 1155

Only Nat/kat, Brook/Claire, Michael/Kevin and Gary/Mallory made LH3000 due to either limited actual seats or to WRP/CBS imposed restrictions tospread out teams a little.

The final flights from Stockholm (ARN) to Kiruna (KRN) were:first 4 teams could get either DK3761 1030 1155 or SK1042 1107 1231

The other 5 teams would be left with:SK1044 1325 1440. That gave the first group of teams either a 2 .75 or 2.15 hour head start.

I have looked at the question of whether Muscat, Oman is a logical connecting point for flights from St. Petersburg to Dhaka. It is NOT. Here's why:

1. the only single connection from LED to DAC is via Bangkok (BKK).2. the least total time double connections from LED to DAC are via: Moscow (DME) and Dubai (DXB) Dubai (DXB) and Doha (DOH) Moscow (DME) and Bangkok (BKK) Moscow (SVO) and Dubai (DXB) Helsinki (HEL) and Delhi (DEL) Rostov (ROS) and Dubai (DXB) Moscow (SVO) and Delhi (DEL) Moscow (DME) and Dubai (DXB) Kiev (KBP) and Dubai (DXB)3. all connections from LED to MCT are double except one through Doha and from Muscat to Dhaka there is one nonstop to Dhaka. That means this combination is possible:

I have looked at the question of whether Muscat, Oman is a logical connecting point for flights from St. Petersburg to Dhaka. It is NOT. Here's why:

1. the only single connection from LED to DAC is via Bangkok (BKK).2. the least total time double connections from LED to DAC are via: Moscow (DME) and Dubai (DXB) Dubai (DXB) and Doha (DOH) Moscow (DME) and Bangkok (BKK) Moscow (SVO) and Dubai (DXB) Helsinki (HEL) and Delhi (DEL) Rostov (ROS) and Dubai (DXB) Moscow (SVO) and Delhi (DEL) Moscow (DME) and Dubai (DXB) Kiev (KBP) and Dubai (DXB)3. all connections from LED to MCT are double except one through Doha and from Muscat to Dhaka there is one nonstop to Dhaka. That means this combination is possible:

I want to go back to leg 4 and the connection in Frankfurt and how that apparently allowed some teams to get ahead at least 2 hours and others to fall behind. The official connect times (quite absurd according to my experience for international to international) for FRA are:

That means that all travel agents, particularly Lufthansa ticketing agents in the Accra airport, would have been allowed to book the connection between LH567 (scheduled arrival 630am June 1) and SK3000 (scheduled departure 0735) of 65 minutes. that is 20 minutes more than the minimum. Now, I personally would never book a flight through Frankfurt assuming a 65 minute connect time due to my personal experience there of slow connection, but if it is a legal connection then the Amazing Race teams certainly should have tried to, and been allowed to.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I always assumed that at least Nat & Kat (and who else booked via the net) would have kept their original tickets (with the slow connection in Frankfurt) and then just bought extra tickets for the fast connection. That way they would have been safe.

I would also assume that Gary & Mallory and Kevin & Michael did not have double tickets since they seemed to have a Lufthansa agent change their tickets.

But I do not know if the race rules allows that kind of behavior. But I remember team Guido stating that in Season 11 they were allowed to hold tickets on multiple connections.

I always assumed that at least Nat & Kat (and who else booked via the net) would have kept their original tickets (with the slow connection in Frankfurt) and then just bought extra tickets for the fast connection. That way they would have been safe.

I would also assume that Gary & Mallory and Kevin & Michael did not have double tickets since they seemed to have a Lufthansa agent change their tickets.

But I do not know if the race rules allows that kind of behavior. But I remember team Guido stating that in Season 11 they were allowed to hold tickets on multiple connections.

Here is the exact quote from Reality TV World

Quote

Somewhere around The Amazing Race 4 or 5, they changed the rules where you could buy tickets -- keep buying fully-refundable tickets -- and you could buy as many tickets as you wanted going from one place to another. So as a result, say when we were in Johannasburg, you're just buying and buying and buying and buying tickets trying to get to Dar Es Salaam... we spent 28 hours in the Johannasburg airport before we finally got out. Believe it or not, I had more than $50,000 worth of airplane tickets in my backpack. We had maxed out two people's Visa cards just buying tickets trying to get out of there.

Based on what we now know, there are several problems with that. Teams start from Narvik and are not likely to go back through Narvik. The are likely to go through Oslo and then get a connecting flight through Stockholm's Arlanda airport to St. Petersburg. That gives us roughly the following:

most of leg 5 6/3 and 6/4 will be around St. Petersburg and either leg 5 or 6 should have an extended pit stop of perhaps 36 hours. All teams should make the the flight connections as long as they are on one of the first two flights. from Harstad-Narvik airport to Oslo.

Apskip, there is a Twitvid that shows teams on a train in sleeper cars. So I 'm guessing they leave Narvik by rail.

Here is a table of trains out of Narvik, going to Stockholm. There is only one per day. It leaves at 2:50 pm and it takes 18 hours and 25 minutes. It arrives in Stockholm at 9:15 am.

We have that teams were spoiled to have been on a flight that left ARN at 10:14 am on June 5th. I'm guessing that they were unable to make it to ARN and catch a flight in 59 minutes so my bet is that they ride the train that leaves on June 3rd and spend almost a full day hanging around Stockholm

Apskip, on the Muscat to Dhaka flight, I have a better option than you have given in post one.

They should try to get Swiss flight LX 243 leaving MCT at 11:35 pm on June 8th and arriving at 12:45 am in Dubai on June 9th.Then they connect to Emirates flight EK 582 leaving DBX at 2:00 am and arriving at 8:40 am at DAC on June 9th.

Maf, I found your train from Narvik to Boden but I can't see any earlier trains from Boden to Stockholm.

Well, I must admit that I am looking at a Thursday in July next year (there are no historical timetables as far as I know at sj.se). And then there is a night train from Boden (#91) leaving at 17:12 with arrival in Uppsala at 05:28.

It looks like there is a complication in the train schedules that make a difference of a few minutes when a passenger get arrive at Arlanda.

If teams left Narvik on Thursday June 3rd then they can get to Arlanda at 9:09 am after changing trains in Gavle.

If teams left Narvik on Friday the 4th then they can change trains in Uppsula and get to Arlanda at 9:01 am (different train from Thursday).

If it was the June 3rd start then they had to wait a day for their flight. That's hard to swallow since there could have been something else to take on June 4th to St. Petersburg. So I would suspect that we have an extra day in Narvik before the leg starts. And somehow the teams manage to make their flights on Friday with only a hour at the airport. Rox's idea of booking on the train seems to help in that regard!

It looks like there is a complication in the train schedules that make a difference of a few minutes when a passenger get arrive at Arlanda.

Yes, it is complicated. And I must admit that when I look at historical times via the DB site I get the same results as you guys do. It is only when I look at next years schedule and guess that the same applied last year I find good connections. That guess may very well not be valid.

But I assume we might find out later tonight. Or we might not, sometimes they are very light on travel details in the show.